This Week's WWE Friday Night SmackDown Explained (April 4, 2025): Recap, Results & What It Means [SPOILERS]

WARNING: The following piece has SPOILERS for WWE Friday Night SmackDown from April 4, 2025. Reader beware - don't say we didn't warn you!WrestleMania 41 main event. Last week, Punk thanked our Tribal Chief for getting him into the main event, but then revealed that it was not his owed favor from the Wiseman, Paul Heyman. Other highlights include the WWE debut of Ray Fenix, Jacob Fatu and Braun Strowman facing off in a last-man-standing match to determine the challenger of LA Knight for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 41, and Naomi and B-Fab face off in a singles match.

Here are your key moments from tonight's Friday Night SmackDown for April 4, 2025:

CM Punk opens the show to thunderous applause from the adoring Chicago crowd. Paul Heyman appeared and asked Punk for one more favor: to tell him the favor that he owes him. Heyman reveals Roman Reigns is not in the building, and Punk says he won't reveal it until he can say it to Reigns' face.
Ray Fenix makes his long-awaited debut in WWE and faced Nathan Frazer, one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions.
Drew McIntyre appeared on-screen showing off a new eye patch after taking glass to the eye last week after an attack by Damian Priest, continuing their build to face off at WrestleMania 41.
LA Knight faced Tama Tonga in a non-title match.
Byron Saxton catches Heyman backstage, and reiterates that Punk hasn't given any indication about the favor, saying into the camera that no matter what the favor is, his answer is yes. Seth Rollins appears behind Heyman, telling him he looks "horrible" and "the worst I've ever seen you." Rollins states that he has made a new plan from being away all week and tells Heyman that he wants to be in the ring with Reigns and Punk when the favor is revealed.
Another mysterious promo, appearing to hint more at a returning Aleister Black.
Wade Barrett moderates the segment in the ring between Charlotte Flair and WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton. Flair calls selecting Stratton as her opponent as "charity work" and says she wants to show the "smartest fans in the world" that there's no comparing the two. Stratton tells Flair that she's never going to win the fight against her biggest competitor, the fans, and tells her she'll always come in second to her dad, Ric Flair. Flair couldn't get a word in edgewise with the Chicago crowd, who continued to boo her as loudly as possible to disrupt the segment, and gave Stratton the last word. Stratton takes a shot at Flair's divorce record, and Flair claims Stratton's boyfriend Ludwig Kaiser is in her DMs. This segment felt as clunky as last week's, but there appeared to be some real heat here.
Nick Aldis appeared to announce a women's tag team gauntlet match, featuring teams from both Raw and SmackDown, with the winners facing Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 41.
Motor City Machine Guns squared off against #DIY to determine the number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Champions, The Street Profits.
A backstage segment with The Miz and Carmelo Hayes talking smack to Pretty Deadly, calling them a joke. Pretty Deadly make reference to Miz's "The Marine" film series and continue to build their feud together.
Naomi was attacked by Jade Cargill prior to her match with B-Fab. After the match, Cargill returned to continue the beat down on Naomi and laid waste to the security guards. Nick Aldis appears and schedules a match between the two of them at WrestleMania 41.
Damian Priest appeared to respond to McIntyre's promo earlier in the night, telling him he screwed himself at WrestleMania XL, Clash at the Castle, Money in the Bank, and Elimination Chamber. Priest calls McIntyre a hypocrite and being a victim "junkie". Priest calls out McIntyre to meet him in the ring next week to challenge him to a match at WrestleMania 41.
Kevin Owens confirms the reports of a rumored injury reported earlier today, stating that he has been dealing with a very serious neck injury for the past four months and requires surgery to repair the damage. Owens thanks WWE for allowing him the opportunity to come and tell the crowd the news and says the timing couldn't be worse, being two weeks out from WrestleMania. Randy Orton came to the ring and was told his WrestleMania match was no longer happening. Orton delivers an RKO to Aldis and leaves him lying in the ring.
Jacob Fatu and Braun Strowman battle in a Last Man Standing match to determine the challenger to LA Knight for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 41.
WWE shows a replay of the Cody Rhodes and John Cena segment from this week's Monday Night Raw and announces Cody Rhodes will appear on next week's SmackDown.
Roman Reigns arrives at the stadium and makes his way to the ring to confront both CM Punk and Seth Rollins. Reigns demands that Punk come to the ring to reveal the secret. Rollins appears first, and scolds Reigns for allowing Punk to get this close to the main event. Punk arrives to the ring and finally reveals the Heyman favor: CM Punk wants Paul Heyman in his corner for the main event match. Reigns laughs at Punk and says Heyman would never go to his corner. Reigns berates Heyman and tries to force him to say no to Punk, but Heyman acquiesces to Punk's favor. Punk delivers a GTS to Reigns and sets his sights on Rollins to end the show.

Here are your results from tonight's Friday Night SmackDown for April 4, 2025:

Ray Fenix def. Nathan Frazer via pinfall
LA Knight def. Tama Tonga via pinfall
Motor City Machine Guns def. #DIY via pinfall
Naomi def. B-Fab via pinfall
Jacob Fatu def. Braun Strowman via ten count to challenge LA Knight at WrestleMania 41

CM Punk's Favor Is Finally Revealed

Punk Wants The Wiseman In His Corner For The Match

The secret favor owed to CM Punk by Paul Heyman was revealed tonight, as he demanded Heyman be in his corner for his first ever WrestleMania main event match, causing strife between Heyman and Roman Reigns. Heyman agreed to this favor, and the story has grown by adding a battle for the Wiseman layered in between a decade-old Shield beef and the Rollins/Punk blood feud.

The favor seemed simple, and perhaps not what all fans were expecting, but it's another moment that shows the fan service payoff for long-time viewers of WWE, calling back the Punk/Heyman alliance and allowing that story to grow again in the face of Reigns' ever-crumbling Bloodline infrastructure. It's another layer to this main event, and one that has allowed a Reigns and Punk program to continue past Las Vegas, with or without Rollins in the middle.

What's Next For Randy Orton Now?

His WrestleMania Match Future is Uncertain

With Kevin Owens confirming reports of his injury and being forced off the card, Randy Orton is now without an opponent for WrestleMania 41, and a hard stop was put on a story line build that was to pay off in a big way. Orton's future currently seems cloudy, as no real challenger is apparent as of publication.

There are multiple opportunities to potentially shoe horn a new opponent in for The Viper, and with less than two weeks left to Sin City, there are few other Superstars that can make something out of nothing quite like Randy Orton. The Bloodline lay in wait to continue their assault on Orton, a fascinating build to a long-term story with Karrion Kross, or a potential first in-ring appearance of Nick Aldis ready to give it back to Orton after years of abuse, could all be possible opportunities to explore for Orton to ensure he still has a place on Night 1.

We're Not Sure What Happened Here

The internet is abuzz with the talk of Friday Night SmackDown, as the promo battle between WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton and 2025 Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair got heated fast. After a few jabs at each other, the segment derailed quickly as each performer took what appeared to be personal shots at one another, with Stratton commenting on Flair's marriages and Flair asking Stratton why her boyfriend, Ludwig Kaiser, was allegedly in her DMs.

According to post-show reporting, both performers went off-script to a significant degree during the segment, and WWE cut a large portion of the personal attacks out of their segment posting on YouTube. It's hard to imagine what happens in the next two weeks leading up to Vegas, but the war of (real) words continues to ramp up.

Our Take On Last Night's Friday Night SmackDown

Ups and Downs On The Road to Sin City

Last night's episode of Friday Night SmackDown had several highs and some pretty serious lows, and was overall another standard fare offering on the Road to WrestleMania. Fans finally got the big payoff for Punk's favor from Heyman, and while some fans may be disappointed by the lack of payoff for the reveal, it's a simple twist that makes it personal for Reigns and Punk.

Jacob Fatu getting a championship match at WrestleMania 41 is a major positive, as his first year has been full of impressive moments, and it's hard to imagine any other scenario but a major trouncing for LA Knight, and Fatu leaving as the United States Champion. While the match between Jacob Fatu and Braun Strowman was another big-man banger, the air was sucked out of the Allstate Arena as Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton spent a few minutes shooting live rounds at each other.

With a few setups for next week's episode laying additional groundwork for WrestleMania 41, including a face-off between Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre, the women's tag team gauntlet match to determine who faces Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, and an appearance by WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes, the Road to WrestleMania marches on, albeit with mixed results.